1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus for recording onto a recording sheet based on image information.
2. Related Background Art
A recording apparatus such as a printer, a copying machine or facsimile terminal equipment is constituted to record an image consisting of dot patterns onto a sheet-like recording medium (here after referred to as a recording sheet) such as paper or plastic thin board, by driving energy generation means of recording head, based on image information.
The recording apparatus can be classified into the ink jet printing, wire dot-matrix printing, thermal recording and laser beam printing systems, according to the method of recording.
As a recording sheet useful for recording, there is thick paper such as an envelope or postcard, or a special sheet such as a plastic thin board, as well as plain paper.
Here, the recording apparatus, which is generally a horizontal type, has an insertion opening and an exhaustion opening for a recording sheet which are provided on an upper face of the recording apparatus. A recording sheet inserted through the insertion opening is recorded while being conveyed along a recording sheet conveyance passage constructed as a U-shape, and then exhausted through the exhaustion opening after recording.
By the way, there arises a technical problem that when a thick recording sheet that does not easily bend such as a postcard or envelope is used in the horizontal type recording apparatus as above described, smooth conveyance was difficult as the sheet conveyance passage was formed as U-shape.
Thus, in order to convey the thick recording sheet such as a postcard or envelope smoothly, a recording apparatus has been proposed in which an insertion opening for thick paper or special sheet is provided on an under face of the apparatus to make its conveyance passage straight-like, whereby a recording sheet such as a thick paper can be also conveyed smoothly.
In this case, the insertion opening for the recording sheet is provided on upper and lower (bottom) faces, and the exhaustion opening for the recording sheet is provided on an upper face.
However, the recording apparatus having the insertion opening for recording sheets on upper and lower faces, as previously described, has two service positions (attitudes), i.e., horizontal and vertical, depending on the insertion direction of the recording sheet, and in order to be stable in either position an external shape of the recording apparatus must be almost cubical with the approximately same depth and height, resulting in a waste of space in the interior.
Moreover, with the recent rapid trend of miniaturized and low cost personal computers, the recording apparatus like a printer useful as an output apparatus is also demanded to be made small-sized and at lower cost.